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The Future of Community Engagement: Renewing the Capacity of Indigenous Communities to Serve Themselves

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What is DesignBuildBLUFF?
Our Mission & VisionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Community Engaged Learning

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Developing Resilient Practices

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Authentic Learning Experiences

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Landscape as Teaching Tool

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Our Mission & Vision
Our Mission:
DesignBuildBLUFF is a non-profit administered out of the
University of Utah that exists to promote applied research in
contemporary rural architecture, regenerative design, and
appropriate technology; while building capacity in collaboration
with the Navajo and the Utah Four Corners region.
Our Vision:
DesignBuildBLUFF aims to create the best generation of applied
thinkers -- design-minded collaborative advocates for social good
who take a hands-on approach to problem solving.
The University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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What is applied thinking?
Our Mission & VisionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Our Teaching Philosophy - Conceptual v.s. TechnicalThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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The University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF Our Teaching Philosophy - Conceptual v.s. Technical

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The University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF Our Teaching Philosophy - Conceptual v.s. Technical

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The University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF Our Teaching Philosophy - Conceptual v.s. Technical

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Current Trends - Conceptual v.s. TechnicalThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Current Trends - Conceptual v.s. TechnicalThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Building Better Architects w/Native CommunitiesThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Where is it?
Where We WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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- Founded in Y2K by Hank Louis at the
University of Utah in SLC and Park City
- In 2003 program builds first ever straw
bale house in SLC, UT
- Moved to current home and namesake in
2004 (Bluff, UT)
- In 2004 program builds first project on
the Navajo Nation (Rosie Joe House)
- In 2013 program becomes a formal
program of the University of Utah, Hank
retires, new administration
- In 2015 program expands its mission to
become more multi-disciplinary.
A Quick HistoryThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Where We Work – Comb RidgeThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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The Student Experience
The Work: Student ExperienceThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Every fall, a graduate studio of up to sixteen students designs a building
for a pre-identified beneficiary of the Navajo Nation in the southern Utah
tribal area. They spend the better part of this semester converting
drawings into habitable space. As the edifice rises, so does a community
of cohorts, who can boast hands on experience of construction,
teamwork, successful project delivery (in most cases), budget
management, publication of their work and incredible amount of
physical labor—all upon mere graduation. They come to appreciate the
expertise of plumbers and electricians; the knowledge of vendors, and
the importance of sunscreen. During the economically dark years from
2008 to 2013, should we be surprised if Bluff graduates got an edge with
employers over peers who opted for the certainties of university
environs and the comforts of home instead?
The Work: Student ExperienceThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Our Projects
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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$25k in Cash

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$50k+ Total Value

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Nakai House
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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www.designbuildbluff.orgNakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Nakai HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Yenaldlooshi / Skin WalkersThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Studio 23The University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Exceeding Accessibility
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose House
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Understanding Disabilities in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities – National Council on Disability
Data from the 1997 Survey of Income and Program Participation
found that 22 percent of the American Indian and Alaska Native
population has one or more disabilities (McNeil, 2001). This is
the highest rate of disability when compared with all other races
in the United States.

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Understanding Disabilities in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities – National Council on Disability
What disabilities do we find in Indian communities?
• Spinal cord injury
• Diabetes complications
• Blindness
• Mobility disability
• Traumatic brain injury
• Deafness or hardness of hearing
• Orthopedic conditions
• Arthralgia
• Emotional or mental health conditions
• Learning disabilities
• Alcoholism or drug dependence

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Understanding Disabilities in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities – National Council on Disability
Barriers to treatment?
• Attitude
• Lack of Awareness
• Legal Enforcement Unclear
• Rural Transportation
• Rural Infrastructure
• Public Access
• Complex Federal Programs
• State Relationships
• Education System
• Employment
• Housing
• Service Coordination and Advocacy
• Alcoholism or drug dependence
• Personal Care Assistance

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The Sol Rose project was designed and executed to meet the
needs of a client, who at our first encounter, was just barely
adjusting to life in a wheelchair. At the time she was living in a
very humble single-wide trailer that was in disrepair and
impossible for her to access.
Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Our students met with her to address her needs through the
design and construction of an ADA wheelchair accessible house,
which would exceed those standards and vastly improve her
ability to once again take care of herself. The focus of the design
became how to reconnect her with views and the outdoors. The
site was uniquely suited to this task as it had 360 degree
sweeping panoramas of important land formations, including
Monument Valley, Bears Ears, and Blue Mountain.
Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sol Rose HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Adding to Lessons Learned
Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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The Future of Community Engagement:
Renewing the Capacity of Indigenous
Communities to Serve Themselves
Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Much more can be said in praise of design build pedagogy and the fine
institution that is Bluff. But if one goes on, one runs the risk of
celebrating the asymmetries of power that underpin the successes of
Bluff. This case study situates us at a prodigious vantage point. Here we
see a struggle between the Navajo’s cosmocentric and our
anthropocentric definition of architecture and the architect; and the
balance is clearly titled in “our” favor. After all it is an interface between
one of the poorest, most exploited, and discredited communities in the
United States, and the representatives of American Academy, one of the
most forceful cultural institutions of its day.
Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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We need to educate our students that this community is disadvantaged
not because they don’t have architects. Till the middle of nineteenth
century, building was an essential life skill, like cooking, stitching,
weaving, storytelling and throwing pots. Men and women built their
houses together. Instead, the Navajo are a disadvantaged community
because the dominant culture of which we all are the beneficiaries and
publicists, has robbed them of all their institutions, means of sustenance,
and land. They are a disadvantaged people because we have subjugated
their spiritual (cosmocentric) attitude of space and time to our modern
(anthropocentric) attitude. If this were a problem unique to
DesignBuildBLUFF, School of Architecture and the state of Utah, it would
not have taken us a decade to see the glaring colonial and exploitative
nature of this our most cherished public interest architectural program.
Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Conical Forked Pole Hogan SymbolismThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Conical Forked Pole Hogan SymbolismThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Conical Forked Pole Hogan SymbolismThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs House
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Badger Springs HouseThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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What’s Next?The University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF
Looking Towards the Future

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The Influence of GlobalizationThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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What’s Next?The University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF
1. Building the capacity of communities from within
2. Identify local accessible material and human
resources
3. Translating the voices of the community
4. Emphasizing cultural identity

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Partnerships: GRID Alternatives (Clean Energy)The University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Change Labs – Creative EntrepreneurshipThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Change Labs – Creative EntrepreneurshipThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Northern Cheyenne Basketball Clinic Summer 2014The University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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After School Mentorship – Bluff ElementaryThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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After School Mentorship – Bluff ElementaryThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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After School Mentorship – Bluff ElementaryThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Land Use Planning, Dine BikeyahThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Land Use Planning, Dine BikeyahThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Land Use Planning, Dine BikeyahThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Community Development - Bluff, UTThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Community Development - Bluff, UTThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Pivot Towards Broad Impact
Critical ReflectionThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand Cabins
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Red Sand CabinsThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar Hall
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Cedar HallThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Dennehotso Sweat Equity
Project
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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Sweat EquityThe University of Utah| DesignBuildBLUFF

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How to find us…
The Student WorkThe University of Utah | DesignBuildBLUFF

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www.designbuildbluff.org

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www.designbuildbluff.org

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www.designbuildbluff.org

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The Future of Community Engagement: Renewing the Capacity of Indigenous Communities to Serve Themselves